Healthy Eating Holiday Food Rules: Why You’ve Got to Have Them!

This holiday season, do your kids a favor. Set some food rules.

Yes, you need some food rules. Then trust your kids to work out the details.

Even young kids can do this. (And if yours can’t…ask yourself, how are they ever going to learn?)

It’s the only way to teach your kids the right habits for a lifetime of holiday eating.

New research confirms:

Children as young as two can (and must!) learn to self-regulate.

Even children who can self regulate need their parents to set some rules about food/eating.

And here’s the kicker: knowing how to self-regulate isn’t enough. Kids also need those rules.

Here’s what the study found:

Preschoolers who were able to self-regulate at 2 had healthy eating habits by the time they were 4, so long as their parents also set rules about the right types of foods to eat.

On the other hand, self-regulation by itself, without parental food rules, made little difference in children’s later eating habits.

Soda is a particular problem.

The researchers are quoted as saying:

“We found that preschoolers whose parents had no food rules drink soda about 25 percent more than children whose parents had food rules.”

“We found that soda is pretty attractive to preschoolers, but soda cannot kill their hunger. It doesn’t fill them up.”

This study, conducted by researchers at the University at Buffalo, analyzed data for 8,850 children that were originally collected as part of a larger study conducted by the U.S. Department of Education.

In this study, self-regulation at age 2=parental assessment of the child’s ability to wait for something as well as general of irritability, fussiness and whimpering. There might be other, and even better measures of self-regulation. The point here, though, is that self-regulation isn’t tied specifically to food and it still matters.

There is mounting evidence that parenting style matters. And the parenting style here is called authoritative. It’s a blend of structure and warmth/compassion.

Parenting style matters so much that focusing on parenting style alone can improve how your kids eat.

Variety: We eat different foods from meal-to-meal and from day-to-day.

Moderation: We eat when we’re hungry, and stop when we’re full. And we don’t eat because we’re bored, sad or lonely.

Here are some food rules you might consider to get you through the holidays:

On days when there are no parties, there are no treats. (Discuss this as the principle of proportion.)

When you’re at a party, you can eat whatever you want, but it’s always better to eat the treats you love, rather than the treats that happen to be available. (You’ll have to tell your kids what foods are going to be available and when.) OR…

You can have X number of treats at the party. You choose which ones and when you’ll have them.

Pay attention to your tummy. (Discuss this in terms of hunger/fullness…i.e. moderation.)